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What does it mean when CodeGear “announces” Delphi 2009?

Just wondering. What exactly is CodeGear “announcing” today? And how is it different from what they’ve been doing for months now?

They’re not announcing what the product will be; they’ve already done that. Sure, they’re filling in a few details, but you can’t really announce something that everybody already knows about. (Mind you, I’m not complaining about the early blogging — I love transparency. But it doesn’t leave much for the marketing droids to, you know, announce.)

And they’re not announcing that the product is feature-complete, or ready to ship, or anything. It isn’t yet. They’re only taking pre-orders. No mention is made of when electronic downloads will begin… or of how much longer after that it’s going to take before they start shipping physical product… or of how much longer after that it’s going to take for customers to start actually getting their copies.

So what, pray tell, is all the fuss about?

10 Responses to “What does it mean when CodeGear “announces” Delphi 2009?”

  1. Lex Y. Li Says:

    At least, the documentation is finished so we know what features must be there. I guess it is a final step before shipment.

  2. Lars Fosdal Says:

    I guess it means we can start holding our breath… :)
    begin end is neigh :D

  3. Rob Kennedy Says:

    CodeGear announced Delphi 2009. Take a look and you’ll notice that everything prior to this has been talking about a product code-named Tiburón. Now it has its real name. CodeGear is also accepting money for it. There’s also a news release about it, so people other than beta testers and CodeGear employees might write about it for an audience larger than (or at least different from) that of the blogs and newsgroups.

  4. Bob Swart Says:

    It means that the official name of the product and the official prices (in all relevant currencies) has been announced, so pre-orders can be taken. And with ESD licenses (electronic software delivery), it’ll be only a matter of hours after Delphi 2009 is ready before my clients and customers get their e-mail with the setup download location and their serial number. No more wait for boxes with DVDs…
    See http://www.bobswart.nl/CodeGear if you’re in the BeNeLux ;-)

  5. Bart Roozendaal Says:

    The Dutch ‘Dr. Bob’ site suggests that you can actually order the upgrade and ‘login codes’ will be emailed within 48 hours. So I guess you will be able to buy it now.

  6. mike Says:

    As I understand the comments given, the final version is in a distance of ~ one week from now. And ESD should begin shortly after that.

    But I too don’t understand the big reason behind such announcements.

  7. Nick Hodges Says:

    Well, we are announcing the products Delphi 2009 and C++Builder 2009. Those products have never existed before, and now we are letting people know that they exist and that they are available for sale. We are also announcing the actual feature sets, editions, and pricing.

    I believe we’ve made similar announcements about every other product we’ve ever released over the last twenty years.

    Nick Hodges
    Delphi Product Manager

  8. Tom Miller Says:

    I saw on one posting that they would announce D2009 when it went “gold”. So it shouldn’t be more then 3 weeks before product is shipping.

  9. Jolyon Smith Says:

    A little birdie told me back in Jan/Feb that Tiburon would be released on August 22nd. Spookily close to the August 25th Announce date!

    My guess is that the announcement was “necessary” to hit a project milestone that had been pegged more than 6 months previously. (Incidentally the official name (Delphi 2009) had also been “announced” previously).

    The fact that the product itself wasn’t rushed out the door to hit that same milestone is, I think, “a good thing” though, and the fact that they are confident enough to announce, and hopefully actually release, so close to their target date, *could* also be a testament to the ability of CodeGear to hit their targets. The proof of that particular pudding will be in the quality of the release though.

  10. Kryvich Says:

    I think early announcement has advantage to people whose Software Assurance expires at the end of August - beginning of September.

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